Newsom narrows District Attorney list

Mayor Gavin Newsom has apparently winnowed his list of district attorney candidates to two, but don’t expect him to appoint one today.

The Chronicle

Keker’s name has come up for D.A.

City Administrator Ed Lee’s whirlwind rise to front runner in the jostling to become San Francisco’s interim mayor leaves one big question on the city political front: Who will Newsom appoint to serve out the final year of Kamala Harris’ term as district attorney nwo that she’s been sworn in as Attorney General?

All indications, though, are that Chiu hasn’t made up his mind if he even wants to be the city’s top prosecutor.

“He’s got to send up a smoke signal or something,” one City Hall insider said.

Regardless, Chiu seemingly crossed a political Rubicon Tuesday night by not voting with his political allies. After all, Supervisor Chris Daly declared: “It’s on like Donkey Kong.” That might serve as some motivation to seek an exit from the board, although Chiu has ties to incoming supervisors as well, including Jane Kim and Malia Cohen.

Special to the Chronicle

Bock, left, would be the only woman in citywide office if appointed.

So who might Newsom pick for DA? Our sources say the list includes Chiu; Paul Henderson, the current chief of administration in the office; Chief Assistant District Attorney David Pfeifer, the No. 2 in the office; Assistant District Attorney Andrew Clark; David Onek, senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice; top-flight San Francisco attorney John Keker; Deputy City Attorney Sean Connolly, who has represented the city in police excessive force cases; and Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Sharmin Bock, an expert on human trafficking.

Bock is the only woman on the list. If she gets it, she’d be the only woman to hold citywide office and of course be replacing a woman. Sources said that the field has been winnowed to two people but declined to name those front runners. Newsom is also still considering new names.

He is expected to confer with Harris today. Either way, an appointment will be made by Monday, when Newsom is to be sworn in as lieutenant governor a week after the date prescribed in the state constitution.